Domestic appliances, such as refrigerator appliances, generally include a cabinet that defines an internal chamber. In the case of refrigerator appliances, a chilled chamber may be defined for receipt of food articles for storage. Refrigerator appliances can also include various storage components mounted within the chilled chamber and designed to facilitate storage of food items therein. Such storage components can include racks, bins, shelves, or drawers that receive food items and assist with organizing and arranging of such food items within the chilled chamber.
Some existing refrigerator appliances include one or more shelves for holding or supporting food items within the chilled chamber. The height or position of the shelf or shelves may be changed according to the needs of a user. For instance, a shelf may be removably supported on a bracket that is permanently fixed to the refrigerator. Multiple predetermined mounting heights may be defined on the bracket by slots that receive the shelf. In order to change the height of the shelf, the shelf must be removed from the bracket. Generally, this requires a user to pivot and/or lift the shelf relative to the bracket. Moreover, the shelf must be at least partially removed from the chilled chamber.
The steps required for adjusting the height of such existing systems can be undesirably complicated. For instance, any food items held or supported by the shelf must generally be removed before the shelf may be adjusted. If the food items are not first removed, a user risks spilling or dropping the items while the shelf is unsupported by the bracket. Even if all the food items are removed, properly aligning the shelf to the bracket may be difficult for some users. Furthermore, the shelf will have only a limited number of predetermined heights, as determined by the bracket. This, in turn, limits a user's options for configuring the shelf height, as well as the overall useable space within the chilled chamber.
Accordingly, an appliance with features for easily and reliably adjusting a shelf height within the appliance would be useful. In particular, a refrigerator appliance with features for easily varying the height of a shelf while mounted within a refrigerator appliance would be useful.